Sydney
DAVID JONES SPRING-SUMMER '14 LAUNCH
Party people: August 1
From launch parties to fundraisers, here is a rundown of last week's events in and around Sydney and Melbourne.
Susie Porter and Chris Mordue at the Variety of Chefs dinner. Photo: Christopher Perkins
Photo: Christopher Perkins
DJs showcased its new collections with an ������explorer������ theme; cruise ship horns signaled the show���s start and suitcases decorated the City store���s seventh floor. The boys stole the show, with Jason Dundas and the Stenmark twins raising pulses with skimpy swimwear and gleaming six-packs. Champagne and delicate canapes completed a tasteful, accessible event, a much friendlier look for the brand than some of the old-style OTT affairs.
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A DECADE OF FLYING FISH
Flying Fish Restaurant + Bar has been pleasing diners at the end of its wharf in Pyrmont for a decade, and owners Con and Kerrie Dedes threw an almighty celebration to mark this gourmet milestone. The venue was separated into various zones of decadence, including a whiskey lounge complete with heavenly chocolate canapes to match the malts, an oyster and raw bar, and a wine room, while upstairs groaned beneath the weight of a four-metre-long Henry VIII-inspired cheese banquet and a 10-metre-long birthday cake. Famous fans, including Kerri-Anne and John Kennerley, Michelle Bridges, Danielle Spencer and Natarsha Belling roamed the edible landscape, and even the pickiest guests declared this the best feast in a very long time.
VARIETY COOKS UP A STORM
Variety the Children���s Charity celebrated a total of almost $140,000 from this six-year-old fund-raiser featuring a four-course spread created by top chefs Matt Moran, Darren Robertson, Marion Grasby and Justin North. Co-host Karen Ledbury auctioned the dress off her back for $3000, cheered by an audience containing Susie Porter, Akira Isogawa and Michael Caton.
AUSTRALIA���S BEST TIPPLES
Wine lists ��� this columnist���s favourite bedtime reading ��� have been recognised by Australia's Wine List Of The Year awards for 20 years. The 2014 finalists, chosen by Fine Wine Partners and Gourmet Traveller Wine , included Aria, Bentley Bar and Dining, Glass and Jonah���s. Ivy ballroom contained Australian wine luminaries such as Stephen Henschke, Andrew Hardy and Andrew Margan. Predictably, the drinks were wonderful.
TIME OUT���S TIP OF THE HAT
Time Out Sydney���s annual Food Award nominees were revealed at CBD arty bar Work In Progress. Moon Park and its talented team of Ben Sears and Eun Hee An were nominated in three of the nine categories.
NOVA���S RED ROOM WITH SAM SMITH
Fresh from the Splendour in the Grass festival, the 22-year-old British sensation Sam Smith performed for a select group including Laura Dundovic, Lincoln Younes, Christian Wilkins, Nova���s Jaben Ryan and host Kent ������Smallzy������ Small. His five-song set at Upstairs Beresford included his smash Stay With Me and a stripped-back version of Latch .
BROOKLYN HITS SURRY HILLS
Brooklyn Social, Surry Hills��� new neighbourhood dive bar and diner, hosted its official launch event for 100 hipsters. Diner fare included mini hot dogs, sliders and delicious cinnamon donuts with DIY sauce syringe.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY AT THE MCA
The MCA Social, the annual fund-raiser, drew a crowd of its Young Ambassadors fully embracing the Art Eclectic theme. A face painter in the lift, dance floor visual artists and cutting-edge performers added to the bohemian vibe.
Melbourne
SPRING LOADED FOR SEASON CHANGE
Sportsgirl spring-summer fashion show, Docklands
Just the thought of spring can elicit a squeal of excitement. But there can be a same-sameness sigh about its coming, too, captured in four withering words by Miranda Priestly, the feared fashion editrix modelled on Anna Wintour, in The Devil Wears Prada : ���Florals, for spring? Groundbreaking.������
At the Sportsgirl spring-summer fashion show at Central Pier on Monday night, spring offerings and summer styles bypassed the expected and instead showcased retro Mexico, free-spirited prairie lace and sleek and clean ���90s minimalist themes. So we wanted to know, what (else) are you going to do differently this spring-summer?
������We���ve got to be bright. I���m normally monochrome, so I think it���s time for some colour,������ Sarah Todd said. But that���s not all that is different in the MasterChef contestant���s life: ������The finale���s on TV tonight and I���m here,������ Todd said. ������It���s been amazing, I���m cooking non-stop and trying to fit in a bit of modelling at the same time, finding the balance. My feet haven���t touched the ground yet, I haven���t had a day off in I don���t know how long, it���s amazing and everything has changed a lot.������ And this summer? ������This summer I���m going to Bali. I���m going to be cooking in Bali; we have a villa so I���ll be cooking for my family in Bali,������ she laughed. Brooke Hogan is Bali-bound, too. ������But I won���t be cooking, I���ll be baking. Sunbaking.������
HOTEL BRIGHTON READY FOR FAME
Hotel Brighton launch, Bay Street
What do you hope Hotel Brighton is famous for? ������Well, we built it for the bayside community, so hopefully being the destination of choice for bayside people,������ Nick Riewoldt said. Riewoldt is a partner in the pub in Bay Street Brighton, along with other boldfaced names ��� Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Cameron McGlinchey , Matthew Richardson, Brendon Gale and Nathan Brown. At the launch on Wednesday night we wondered, if you weren���t already known ��� famous ��� what would you like to be famous for?
������As an architect or interior designer,������ Bassingthwaighte said.
������I don���t have any interest in being famous,������ McGlinchey said. OK, what would you like to be renowned for? ������Let me think, I want to give a decent answer. I���d like to be renowned for doing something groundbreaking in psychology; I���m intrigued by it, understanding our brain more.������ Then he laughed: ������I���m a drummer but I���m not stupid.������
We could see Texas-born Catherine Riewoldt ���s brain working when we asked the question of Nick; ������She said she���d like me to be a quarterback in the NFL, just so we���d be living in America; yeah, run with that.������
FREE WILL AND FRIDGE MAGNETS
Melbourne International Film Festival opening night, Hamer Hall
The scene was certainly cinematic. The storm filled the radar screen; a dark and ominous mass approaching as though an alien invasion ... and that was just on the red carpet. But the weather barely touched the opening night of the Melbourne International Film Festival on Thursday, featuring the Australian premiere of Predestination .
The film explores questions of destiny, identity and mutability, so we asked writer-directors Michael and Peter Spierig where they fall on the destiny versus free will scale. ������I���d like to think there���s free will,������ Peter said. ������But if there isn���t, I don���t know that we���d ever know about it.������ Michael added: ������I���d like to think I���m in charge of my own destiny, although it���s funny: when things work out the way they do sometimes, you think ���That seemed like it was predestined.' ������
Talent and destiny, perhaps, is working for actor Sarah Snook . Have you laminated the glowing Variety review about the film, about you? She laughed: ������No; maybe mum has it laminated, like, stuck up with one of my old fridge magnets that I made as a kid ��� a painted pasta fridge magnet.������